News Archive – 2009

News Summary

This is a summary of older news items for this web site, with links to more details
further down the page or elsewhere on the site.
Note that some old links on this page may no longer work, or may no longer be active.

11th December 2009

Our Chairman Tony Gutteridge will be making the bookings on Monday next (14 December)
for the Opera trip to the Coliseum on 22nd March to see/hear Katya Kabanova conducted
by Mark Wigglesworth (Bursary Holder 1988-89) as mentioned in the November Newsletter
and he believes that there are still some requests for
seats that he hasn’t received.

He needs a few more reservations in order for us all to qualify for a whopping 30%
reduction on the ticket prices which range from £78 (gross) to £16 –
and we do not have to choose just one price or all sit together!
Please leave him a message by telephone: 023 9247 4681; or e-mail: acg@waitrose.com
by Sunday so that he can call the Coliseum early on Monday.

It would also be useful for him to know if you would like to take part in
Pauline s proposed study session so that a suitable venue can be arranged.

11th December 2009

We now have more details about the
Afternoon of Music which the Friends of the Orchestras
are presenting at the Newtown House Hotel, Hayling Island on Sunday 24 January,
as mentioned in the November Newsletter.

Becky Hill is providing the music and artists and plans to begin with
her own Nadina String Quartet playing a selection of Mozart’s chamber music
including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
Then after a short interval the tone will be more varied -
from ‘Bach to the Beatles’ with music from the Baroque period to the
present day, including the chance for you to choose some of the programme.
She will also be introducing some young and talented instrumentalists and singers.

It should be a very interesting and friendly occasion with an opportunity
to talk afterwards when refreshments will be served.
Tickets are £8.00 or £6.00 if you are a Friend of the Orchestras - see the
November Newsletter for
how to obtain them.

We congratulate our Musical Director, Peter Craddock,
who received the Special Achievement Award at the
Portsmouth News ‘Guide Awards’
on Monday, 16th November 2009.
If you follow the preceding link to the Portsmouth News site, there is a video of the awards event.
The Special Achievement Award presentation is near the end, starting at about 1:41:55.

Due to unforeseen circumstances the original soloist for our
28th November 2009
concert is not available and after a concentrated search his
replacement will be the very young violinist
Ben Baker
who was born in New Zealand just 19 years ago.
He came to England with his family after winning a scholarship
to the Yehudi Menuhin School when he was eight years old and is
now a student at the Royal College of Music.
Ben has already performed concertos by Mendelssohn, Bruch, Mozart, Vivaldi
and Vaughan Williams and his debut CD Arcadian Strings
was awarded Classic FM’s ‘Next Big Thing’ prize in 2006.

6th November 2009

Players please note that the rehearsal originally scheduled for 8th January 2010 (the first
rehearsal for the March concert) has now been
moved to 4th December 2009 to allow another organization to use St Faith’s Hall on the
original date.
The rehearsal schedule has been updated accordingly.
As the new date is now the last rehearsal before Christmas, mince pies will be provided!

The web site has now been updated for the 2009-2010 season.
You can still view the concert details for the previous season via the 2008-2009
link on the concert dates menu.

4th July 2009

We have heard that the computer system at Ferneham Hall is currently not working, which means that
their web site is unavailable and they are unable to book tickets via the web site or phone at the
moment. However, they say that they will be using a manual backup system to sell tickets
at the door this evening, and there should be plenty, so please buy your tickets at the door!

We are pleased to hear that our conductor Peter Craddock has now had his second hip operation and
we wish him a speedy and comfortable recovery.

This means that (as anticipated in the March newsletter) Peter will be out of action for the May concert,
but in his place we are happy to welcome back Jason Lai as a guest conductor of the
Havant Chamber Orchestra.
HCO players please note that the rehearsal times on Tuesday 5th May and 12th May will now be 15 minutes
earlier than usual, from 7:15pm to 9:45pm, in order to help Jason with his travel arrangements; please arrive in time to start promptly at 7:15pm.

Our bursary holder Jessica Cottis will also be helping out by conducting HSO rehearsals until Peter
is back on his feet.

Members of Havant Chamber Orchestra and their audiences will be sad to learn that Sheelagh Bridgman,
principal viola, died on 12th February after a short illness.
A Memorial Service will be held at Holy Trinity Church, Bosham, on Thursday 26th February at 11.30am.
(There is little parking space near the Church - but there is a public car park in the village
which incurs a walk.
Further travel/parking details can be accessed from:
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/bosham-holy-trinity/)

4th February 2009

This web site now supports a password-protected members’ area containing
pages which can only be viewed by suitably authorized people (currently
Havant Orchestras players, friends and committee members) by entering a user name and password.
See below for further details.

Various improvements have been made to the web site to improve the presentation and make it
easier to navigate, including
a second-level link bar for the “About” section.

Ben Baker CDs

22nd November 2009

Ben Baker, the violin soloist for the concert on Saturday 28th November, will be bringing
some copies of his 2 CDs for sale at the concert.
They cost £7.00 each or £12.00 for one of each.

CD 1 is an album titled ‘Arcadian Strings’ and Ben’s accompanist is Julian Dyson.
The contents are:

Wieniawsky: Polonaise in D

Elgar: Salut d'Amour

Paganini: Moses Fantasy

Williams: Schindler's List

Schubert: The Bee

Granados, arr. Kreisler: Spanish Dance

Wieniawsky: Legende

Kreisler: Miniature Viennese March

Schubert: Ave Maria

Monti: Czardas

Ben sells this CD to raise money for sponsored children in Ghana (World Vision)
and HIV orphanages in Eastern Europe (Children in Distress).

CD 2 is a Live performance in The Menuhin Hall and Ben’s
accompanists are Susanna Kim, Ayaka Shigeno and Julian Dyson.
The music is:

Niccolo Paganini - La Campanella

Richard Wagner - Albumblatt

Ernest Chausson - Poeme, Op 25

Robert Schumann - Fantasie in C Major, Op. 131

Fritz Kreisler - Schön Rosmarin

Password-protected area for Havant Orchestras players, friends and committee

4th February 2009

This web site can now store pages in a password-protected members’ area
which can only be viewed by suitably authorized people (currently
Havant Orchestras players, friends and committee members) by entering a user name and password
which will be given out to the relevant people once we have stored some information in this area.

This private information will only be
shown in the menus when you are logged in as a user who can view it.
You can log in by clicking on the Login button and entering the user name and password
that you have been given.
If you try to view a private page without logging on first, the browser will automatically
prompt you to log in with an
appropriate user name and password.

Different pages may be made available to different user types (players, friends and committee
members) or to any combination of these types if this seems appropriate.

We hope to use this facility to be able to share information available more
freely among the orchestras and friends, avoiding the privacy concerns that arise from
making information available to the internet in general.
This facility provides privacy rather than high security, as it does not use encryption
and relies on shared user names and passwords, but it should be quite safe from search
engines and inquisitive members of the general public.